Lês Bêtes one of the Official Selections from the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology’s 2024 festival that accepted the Filmmaker Mixer Podcast offer to review their work. It’s stop motion, with this really striking visual style. The puppets all look incredibly unique. They sort of remind me of the various items I would find at an antique shop- creepy masks, patterned fabric. There’s a very unique aesthetic to it. I really like the diversity in materials used for these puppets. While some of them are clay, such as the human characters, there’s also a few that are made of paper; one puppet has ropes for arms; there’s these snails that have shells that are made of actual seashells; and one puppet is literally just a pinecone with arms and legs. The animation itself is very impressive. Story wise, Lês Bêtes is as surreal as its visuals. It’s about a group of small, strange creatures, who perform as a circus for a group of nobles, who are dissatisfied by the performance and start acting out violently towards the creatures. There’s a lot of humor and charm to be found in this film. It’s one I definitely would want to watch again.
-Madelyn, Filmmaker Mixer Correspondent
